IDA Ireland claims 2001 was the worst year for job creation in the State for 15 years and has urged a Yes vote in the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty in order to ensure longer-term prosperity for Ireland.
The agency said weakening global economic conditions resulted in the net loss of 4,000 jobs at IDA-backed companies last year.
While its chief executive Mr Seán Dorgan said poor economic conditions seemed to have bottomed out and Ireland should see a real recovery in jobs growth in 2003, he added that Ireland's future economic prospects depended on a "strong, confident and growing Europe".
"Ireland can simply not afford to be isolated," he said. "A decision by Ireland not to ratify will be seen and represented as a withdrawal by Ireland from the European consensus. Because we are relatively small and so trade-dependent, more than any other member-state, our economic prospects are tied to an intimate and central involvement in the EU."
He added that international companies were currently investing more than €5 billion in the State and foreign direct investment would suffer if the Nice Treaty was not ratified.
EU enlargement would give the region a new growth impetus and this would attract additional investment and increase the export opportunities for Irish companies, he said, adding the upcoming vote on the Nice Treaty would be the most important vote for inward investment in the State since the original decision to join the EEC in 1972.
During 2001, 13,500 new jobs were created in IDA-supported companies but 17,500 jobs were lost in the same period, mainly because of the slowdown in the IT sector. Last year was the first in a decade that there had been a net decline in employment in overseas companies in the State.
Mr Dorgan said while it was difficult to predict what might happen with job creation and foreign investment in the State during the remaining months of 2002, the IDA was seeing a shift for the better in general economic conditions.
Site visits to Ireland by potential foreign investors are up 12 per cent in the year to date and the agency has negotiated 33 projects so far this year, compared with 24 in the same period last year.
A lot of companies who have invested, or plan to invest in Ireland in the current year, have made no public announcement yet, he said. "Some are in retrenchment mode elsewhere and investing in Ireland may be difficult to explain... They are reluctant to come forward until they are ready," he said.
But he added competitiveness issues were central for the foreign development investment sector. He identified wage increases, road and air access as well as energy, telecommunications and insurance costs as being most to the fore.
The IDA's annual report revealed board members' fees, expenses and remuneration increased to €378,000 in 2001 from €287,000 in the previous year. The IDA also opened three new regional units last year in Athlone, Waterford and Sligo, employing 50 people.
A total of €50 million, compared with €35 million last year, has also been earmarked for purchasing property and land, which will be used as bases for IDA-backed companies.
